In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhishmachaarya continuing with his accord on “Raaja Dharma” with Yudishtra. Till now he had discussed several important aspects like trust, performing our duty without running away, and now he is talking about flexibility and humility. To drive this point home, Bhishmachaarya is narrating a beautiful story wherein “Samudra-Raaja” is asking Mother Ganga as to why she is not bringing along the bamboo tree’s branches to the ocean, but every other tree’s branches are being brought along! For this, Mother Ganga gives a very important reply that she is unable to bring the bamboo branches because the bamboo tree flexes itself and bows down in front of her every time in respect, whenever she is increasing her force. While the other trees stand rigidly to their pole position, Mother Ganga is easily able to uproot them and bring them along. However, since the bamboo tree flexes itself, she doesn’t have the heart to destroy it and bring its branches along. Hence, even after several attempts, Mother Ganga is unable to break the bamboo tree and bring it along with her.
This accord from Bhishmachaarya gives us two important lessons – First one is “humility” and the second one is “flexibility” / “agility”. No matter how much we might have achieved in life, being grounded and humble is very important. Rather, if we’re going to keep boasting about our achievements and take a lot of pride from them, we have to face downfall somewhere or the other. This is just like how the other trees stand tall without being humble and grounded, and subsequently the river gushes down and washes them away! Here we can see clearly that the bamboo tree is not being washed away because it bows down to Mother Ganga. Similarly, no matter how much ever we might have achieved things in this world, we should always have the humility to bow down in front of the Supreme Bhagawan! If we do so, Bhagawan will ensure that we are protected at crucial times.
Secondly, we learn the lesson of being agile or flexible. This is also very important in life. We might have seen some people in our personal and professional circles, being extremely planned and routine-based and they would try to stick to their plan every time, without adjusting for the convenience of others. In behavioral sciences, we call this the “Conscientiousness” personality trait. Of course it is good to be planned and routine based, but to what extent? Should we become so rigid that we would fail to accommodate genuine needs from genuine people? This is also not good. While planning is important, we shouldn’t get obsessed with it. Some people have this notion – Plan for the next twenty-five years and start saving enormous sums of money from now onwards! We should understand one thing clearly – Nobody knows whether we will be alive after twenty-five years from now! We’ve to learn to enjoy the present moment as well, along with the future planning that we’ve to do. Of course, I’m not against planning for the future. But the question comes – “For how long and how much?” We should be like the bamboo tree, which bends and flexes itself when the flow of the river is higher and then stands rigid when the flow becomes even or lower. We should be able to have the correct “checks and balances” in place, and this is important.
Narrating this story thus, Bhishmachaarya continues his accord with Yudishtra – “Oh Yudishtra! Let me now come back to the point – Whenever you see an enemy, you should first bow down in front of him and understand who he is and his entire background, before taking your weapons and commencing a fight. This is very important. When I say “bow down in front of your enemy”, it doesn’t mean that I’m asking you to surrender in front of him. You should understand the fine balance here – When I say “bow down”, I mean to say that you’ve to be calm and composed in your counterattack. You should not give way to your emotions to take center-stage. If you do so, the battle is lost then and there! Only a person who steadies himself, calms himself down and understands the strengths / weaknesses of the enemy, will be able to win a battle! So just like the bamboo tree flexing itself to avoid getting washed away by the River Ganges, you should also flex yourself to avoid getting defeated by the enemy straightaway!”
Now this is a very important point that Bhishmachaarya is discussing here, which is quite self-explanatory in nature. I don’t think I need to add any further on this point, as it is very evident with the beautiful explanation he gives here. So for today, let us understand up to this point, and we shall continue this discussion forward in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 